My father, Nigel Gilson, who has died aged 91, was a Methodist minister whose faith was intertwined with deep social commitment. He was born into a strong Methodist family, in Holcombe, Somerset. Accepted as a candidate for the ministry in 1947, he went on to serve in Britain and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) from 1958 to 1967. In 1986-87 he served as the president of the UK Methodist church.

As a young man, after agonising over the Christian stance on war, he served as an RAF navigator in the second world war and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; but later he became a pacifist.

Having worked across racial barriers within Rhodesia, he left the country in 1967 as political events threatened this multiracial ministry. In Wolverhampton and Oxford he supported ecumenical partnerships, worked with black and white communities and was also closely involved with the charity Asylum Welcome. His social commitment was reflected in the various church committees he chaired: the working party on civil disobedience; the Mission Alongside the Poor working party; the Black and White Christian Partnership.

My father also demonstrated his faith at a personal level. An extra lunch place was often set on Sundays for unexpected visitors. He made the importance of relationship to the Christian life a central message of his presidency year.

He was always interested in the lives of his four daughters and in those of his grandchildren. He debated political issues, enjoyed jokes and wordplay, and even in his 80s regularly beat the rest of us in completing the crossword. Although a short man, he was never a small man. As he once remarked in a sermon: "My predecessor was a man of great stature. I am reminded of this every morning when I try to shave in the mirror."

Increasing physical frailty and the onset of dementia brought considerable challenges in later years, but he bore them with dignity. And even as he withdrew from the world, his humour, courtesy, and prayerfulness remained. Above all, his love for his wife, Mary, whom he married in 1951, was always sure.

He is survived by Mary, his daughters, Bridget, Joanne, Rachel and me, and his grandchildren.